Venick means nothing to me.
But the words quickly slid from her mind. She closed her eyes. Concentrated. Tried again.
There was never anything between us.
The pulse of a headache. Ellina had not yet even opened her mouth. She stilled, breathing deeply, remembering his warm hands, how they had brushed her mouth, her cheek. Into her hair, then at her waist. Her armor did nothing to protect her. She felt his fingers grip tightly.
I saved him because I wanted information.
She had leaned greedily into that kiss. He pulled away briefly. His eyes locked on hers. He saw her expression. The next time he moved his mouth over hers, she felt a promise in his kiss.
I feel nothing for him.
Ellina opened her eyes. Her headache reared. She leaned into the pain and tried again and again, imagining those phrases late into the night.
TWENTY-SIX
Venick emerged into the circle of trees.
The space looked no different than the rest of the forest: crooked roots and thick trunks and leaves in various stages of decomposition. If elves had ever camped here, there was no trace of it.
But elveshadcamped here. Venick reached a hand to the nearest tree, touched the fork between branch and trunk. He saw the slight change in color, as if a layer of bark had been filed away. This was where they had tied Ellina’s wrists. And there, just beyond, was where he had crouched and watched the whipping, helpless.
Venick swallowed the lingering anger and turned his eyes north. He hadn’t truly expected to find Ellina’s troop here. Likely, they were halfway back to Evov by now. Yet he had hoped. His task had just become difficult.
Impossible, you mean.
Venick knew the legends. Evov was hidden because thecitychose who was allowed in and who was not. It was ancient magic left over from the days when humans had been conjurors and shared their knowledge with elves. Rumor said that you may wander forever and never reach Evov’s gates. Or she might guide you straight into her arms.
Venick didn’t know the last time a human had entered Evov. What he did know was that if he wanted to find the elves’ hidden city, he would need to start at the Shallow Sea. Every journey to Evov began there.
Journey now, is it?
He drew a hand across his face. Gods. He’d been an outlaw, last time he checked. No duty to anyone. Yet now he was contemplating making the trek north for a country that wasn’t his, for an elf whocertainlywasn’t. Venick thought of his homeland. The border was still close. He could turn around, forget the army he’d seen, return to the mountains and the clansmen and the empty days dreaming of Irek and redemption. And it was like Dourin said, wasn’t it? Venick had learned he couldn’t trust himself where Ellina was concerned. He had caused her more pain than he was worth.
But what pain would she face if hedidn’tgo?
What pain would her country face, when the south marched on the north?
And what of the mainlands, if the southerners spread west?
It had happened before. Centuries ago, during the purge, elves had swept through the mainlands and herded human conjurors like iziri goats. Slaughtered them like goats, too. There had been war. It was over quickly. Humanity had always relied heavily on their conjurors for protection, and without them, men were quickly beaten.
After, humans vowed they would never be weak again. The Fathers of War perfected battle tactics. Their sons invented cannons and crossbows. All men became soldiers, and woman were trained as blacksmiths and armorers. Mankind became a beast of war.
Later, the border was drawn and the days of elven-human conflict seemed at an end, but humans would not relent their tradition of battle, which was passed from father to son to grandson. With no foreign enemy to defeat, humans began fighting each other.
Still, humans did not forget the purge. All children were taught the stories. The threat of another elven invasion waslikea story, scaly and red-eyed. A monster. Not real. Everyone knew it wasn’t. Yet the fear remained.
Our elven neighbors crouch in waiting, the story went.
First, they purged the world of conjurors.
Next, it will be all humans.
It will happen again. It could happen now.
Venick thought of Irek. His mother. He remembered how she looked each time he returned home safely from battle. The way she would hide her relief, because to show relief was to admit how much she worried, and it was dishonorable to admit she worried at all. She would smile proudly instead.Did you fight well?she would ask him.Always, he would say.
